A rider powered scooter as is generally understood is typically a two wheeled vehicle with a front free rolling, steerable wheel and a rear free rolling, non-steerable wheel connected to each other by a frame including a rider platform positioned between the wheels on which the rider can support himself. To move, the rider can roll or coast downhill and on level or elevated ground can use one foot to push off the ground as the other foot rests on the platform. This locomotion process was employed at the inception of the scooter and skateboard.
To start rolling, the rider often runs alongside the scooter to reach a certain speed and then jumps onto the platform to ride using the one foot push method to maintain motion. These simple coaster type scooters gained popularity among young riders as they were generally easy to ride and required less skill to ride than a skateboard device which has no true steering mechanism other than weight shifting which required rider skill, balance and agility to steer the device. Both the scooter and the skateboard's use of generally small wheels permits the platforms to be very low relative to the ground. Having the platform low to the ground improves the stability of these free rolling scooters.
Typically, scooters have no easy way to maintain speed and are somewhat limited in performance. Skateboards, however, can be used in a variety of exciting ways including jumps and wheelies and other tricks. One result from these design differences is that coaster scooters are more limited. When the excitement of the initial purchase wanes, the child becomes bored or tired of the device. The scooter simply was not as much fun as a skateboard. Further, the scooter could not compete with a bicycle in terms of performance, so the device was relegated to a fad which, over time, may lose children's interest.
Attempts to improve on the scooters appeal, several devices suggested adding one or two pedals to help propel the scooter such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,487,987. One such three wheeled device called Pumgo® was made, marketed and sold; but this device is slow, difficult to turn without tipping and hard to maintain balance. It provides limited entertainment and is not a practical transportation device.
The three wheeled device was not readily accepted as its performance was sub-standard. Therefore, there is a need for a self-powered scooter that allows for the maneuverability of the two wheels in a linear configuration while providing sufficient forward propulsion and speed that cannot be achieved by simply pushing along the ground. After prolonged research, experimental prototypes, and evaluations the development of the original concept of the self-propelled scooter has been markedly improved with technical features and changes heretofore neither appreciated nor recognized. The following description provides this latest improvement over the original basic design concept and makes this improved scooter far more reliable with superior propulsion performance and better rider stability than was previously possible.
It is also desirable to have a rotary motion from a crank arm that rotates an axle for providing the driving force in propelling the scooter. However, it is also advantageous to have pedal wings that increase the amount of leverage that can be applied for propulsion such as with stepper devices such as in U.S. Pat. No. 8,128,111 owned by the Applicant. It is also desirable to have a winged pedal system that can be retrofit to existing rotary pedal systems to improve the speed and performance of the traditional rotary pedal drive systems.
One disadvantage of the wing pedal system is that when one of the wing pedals is in the upmost position and the user is attempting to start locomotion, the wing pedal can lock or counter-rotate thereby forcing the rider to reset the pedal and restart the scooter. This lockup is principally caused by the interaction with the crank arm, whether it is at or past its upmost position and whether the crank arm rotates in proper direction.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wing pedal drive system that uses the rotary motion of crank arms to provide propulsion.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a wing pedal system using a rotary drive system that reduces or eliminates the lock up when starting locomotion.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for a wing pedal drive system that can be retrofit to existing rotary drive systems.